North West Texas Hospital Amarillo – Now Available With Robotic Surgery! [VIDEO]

Looks like there's a new surgeon in town, a robot surgeon, and he's performing his practice at North West Texas Hospital here in Amarillo.  The doctor's name?  The Da Vinci SI, HD robot.  Sounds pretty hi-tech if you ask this country boy!

With this new machine, surgeries can be performed much faster with incredible precision!  But it doesn't mean surgeons are out of a job, this is a tool operated by surgeons!  It's said to be so easy, your average person could operate the machine smoothly, but that doesn't mean they can perform an operation just to be clear.

How much did this set the hospital back?  A whopping $1.5 million!  Yet, the end result will be a much greater pay-off than the investment!

News Channel 10 catches us up on the story:

This robotic surgery technology isn't the first of its kind in the panhandle, but it's the most current technology on the market.

"We're very proud to announce today the arrival of our newest born technology," Northwest Texas Healthcare System CEO Mark Crawford announced in a press conference Tuesday.

It's looks intimidating but the $1.5 million machine is made to make surgery less invasive for a patient, saving time and pain.

"I did two this morning. Each were done in about an hour from start to finish," Dr. Clyde Meek said. "Many women only use Ibuprofen or Advil for pain control afterwards."

Meeks is a gynecologist. He's performed over 200 operations on robotic machines, mostly hysterectomies.

He makes a tiny incision on the patient, no bigger than half an inch, then the robot arms do the work inside the body.

The new technology mimics the wrist movements of an actual surgeon, but allows them to operate with more precision.

It's extremely easy to use, even NewsChannel 10's Leslie Aguilar was able to operate it smoothly.

The main goal of the machine, according to Meeks, is to decrease the number of incisions made, thus reducing pain and the need for pain killers.  A great idea!  So many people end up hooked on pain killers due to operations, so to reduce the risk of creating addicts, reduce pain all together, perform surgeries in less time, increase precision, that's a win right there!